L. A. Noir [Import] [Unbound]

James Ellroy (Author)

Product Details

• Unbound
• Publisher: Mysterious (1998)
• ISBN-10: 0759580421
• ISBN-13: 978-0759580428
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,292,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. He is the author of the acclaimed L.A. Qurtet - The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz, as well as the Underworld USA trilogy: American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover. He is the author of one work of non-fiction, The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women. Ellroy lives in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insight into the young Ellroy, December 6, 1999

By 

Deborah Hogg (Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: L.A. Noir (Hardcover)

Anyone who knows the slightest thing about James Ellroy should realise that this early trilogy was a process of evolution for the stunning writer of truly wonderful fiction like American Tabloid. OK it's not as densely plotted but therein lies the magnificence of this trilogy. It's still expertly crafted and immensely readable. I read Blood on the Moon in one whirlwind of a day. Enjoy the ride Ellroy takes you on and don't concern yourself with meaningless comparisons with his later work. Love Lloyd Hopkins as you surely should. It's still in a league of it's own as far as your average crime writing goes.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My boy Ellroy!, July 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: L.A. Noir (Hardcover)

I read a lot of crime fiction, and nobody does what Ellroy does.Forget the fact that these are early Ellroy works. Forget the fact that they tale place in a different era than those visited in his more popular books (40's - 50's - 60's), that being the 1980's. Just groove on Ellroy's caffeinated prose and bask in the glory of its radiance!

I love that these books take place in the '80's. When you read other Ellroys you wonder what his take on the "modern world" would be. I found it just as relentless and glorious as the other time periods used in his later novels. Ellroy was writing these at the same time Brett Easton Ellis was writing Less Than Zero, the same time that the movie To Live and Die in L.A. appeared in theatres. This is a time and place in American history with tremendous dramatic literary potential. The fact that Ellroy's characters and story lines could exist in the 40's, 50's or 60's, with bourbon and jazz replacing cocaine and punk is a testement to Ellroy's undeniable brilliance.

And Lloyd Hopkins, the hero of these novels? He lacks the charm of a Spenser or Carella, posesses the demons and frailties of a Robicheaux or Scudder, but is still an Ellroy original. Love him or hate him while you read these books, but I guarantee you'll miss him when you're done.

Read L.A. Confidential or American Tabloid for the best Ellroy there is. Read L.A. Noir and just enjoy Ellroy.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Watch Ellroy go from dime-a-dozen hack to near-genius, June 22, 1998

By 

Mark Kawakami - See all my reviews

This review is from: L.A. Noir (Hardcover)

Expecting the brillinace of 'The Black Dahlia', 'L.A. Confidential' or 'American Tabloid'? Well tough, buddy, you're not gonna get it! But you should read it anyways. Why? Cause the promising newcomer that wrote 'Brown's Requiem' had to evolve into the Big Boogaloo that wrote 'Dahlia' somehow, and these three novels show you pretty much the path he took. The first one is pure macho hero-worship with Ellroy writing about a brilliant, 'sex-obsessed' cop tracking a monster. Second, same, but the monster there rocks. Then the third, and Ellroy's hero is less brilliant, and he shows his new discovery: 'Macho' = 'Fear' = 'B.S.'. Book one is by the guy that wrote 'Requiem', book three is by the guy that wrote 'Dahlia'. If you're a fan, its like the proud moment when a baby learns its first swear word.